Hometown: Bangkok, Thailand
Education: BSE Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania; MEng Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, Cornell University
Before Wharton: Management Associate, Citi Global Consumer Group; Engineer, Johnson & Johnson, Thailand
After Wharton: Short term, strategy consulting long term, public/international development in Southeast Asia
During the Leadership program, we worked in teams to figure out how to best suit to everyone's ability. We were on common ground on how we moved each day.
Leadership Program had impact
The Leadership Program was something I wouldn't have been able to try if I didn't come here. I like having international experiences, and I had never been to South America – and I participated in the Patagonia leadership venture. I learned about my leadership style. It was really challenging, but people were really open to me. We worked in teams to figure out how best to suit everyone's ability. We were on common ground on how we moved each day. The comments from my team gave me a good perspective on how I lead people and what I need to work on to make it better. I learned I need to be more aggressive in terms of adjusting to people of different cultures. Comments from my learning team confirmed that I also need to be more assertive in leading people.
Social impact opportunities on campus
Everyone is open to learning and getting as much as they can from classes. At Wharton, a lot of people who have experience in a particular industry are willing to help those students who were inexperienced. We each contribute the things we know the most about. I am mostly involved in non-profits. I participated in Wharton Community Consultants, and I'm part of the Wharton Social Impact Initiative. We are organizing a national conference that will host more than 1,000 students on Wharton's campus. I'm also involved in the International Volunteers Program, and we have initiated some projects outside the U.S. As part of that program, I'll be working in Kazakhstan at the end of the summer helping them with strategies for their microfinance situation. We also worked with a British nonprofit in a small village in Thailand, helping develop a strategy for a heavy craft project to help people earn more income.
Working in non-profits
I am hoping to get into management of nonprofits – helping with women issues, education or international development in general. By doing consulting first I will gain perspective on how to manage an organization, how to think strategically about an organization, and over the long term, use that knowledge to manage a nonprofit. People have a wrong impression that it is only about managing without money; a lot of business concepts can be applied to the nonprofit world. You can make things more efficient. You can use marketing skills to raise more money, and you can learn management skills to better manage your organization and people.
